US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

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[Laws in effect as of January 7, 2003]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 7, 2003 and December 19, 2003]
[CITE: 46USC10318]

 
                           TITLE 46--SHIPPING
 
                     Subtitle II--Vessels and Seamen
 
              Part G--Merchant Seamen Protection and Relief
 
              CHAPTER 103--FOREIGN AND INTERCOASTAL VOYAGES
 
Sec. 10318. Wages on discharge in foreign ports

    (a) When a master or seaman applies to a consular officer for the 
discharge of the seaman, the consular officer shall require the master 
to pay the seaman's wages if it appears that the seaman has carried out 
the agreement required by section 10302 of this title or otherwise is 
entitled to be discharged. Then the consular officer shall discharge the 
seaman. A consular officer shall require the payment of extra wages only 
as provided in this section or in chapter 109 of this title.
    (b) When discharging a seaman, a consular officer who fails to 
require the payment of the wages due a seaman at the time, and of the 
extra wages due under subsection (a) of this section, is accountable to 
the United States Government for the total amount.
    (c) A seaman discharged under this section with the consent of the 
seaman is entitled to wages up to the time of discharge, but not for any 
additional period.
    (d) If the seaman is discharged involuntarily, and it appears that 
the discharge was not because of neglect of duty, incompetency, or 
injury incurred on the vessel, the master shall provide the seaman with 
employment on a vessel agreed to by the seaman or shall provide the 
seaman with one month's extra wages.
    (e) Expenses for the maintenance and return of an ill or injured 
seaman to the United States shall be paid by the Secretary of State. If 
a seaman is incapacitated by illness or injury and prompt discharge is 
necessary, but a personal appearance of the master before a consular 
officer is impracticable, the master may provide transportation to the 
seaman to the nearest consular officer for discharge.
    (f) A deduction from wages of the seaman is permitted only if the 
deduction appears in the account of the seaman required to be delivered 
under section 10310 of this title, except for matters arising after 
delivery of the account, in which case a supplementary account is 
required. During a voyage, the master shall record in the official 
logbook the matters about which deductions are to be made with the 
amounts of the deductions. The entries shall be made as the matters 
occur. The master shall produce the official logbook at the time of 
payment of wages, and also before a competent authority on the hearing 
of any complaint or question about the payment of wages.

(Pub. L. 98-89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 568.)

                      Historical and Revision Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Revised section                Source section (U.S. Code)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
10318.............................  46:682
                                    46:683
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Section 10318 establishes consular officers' responsibilities in 
discharging seamen and the seamen's right to wages when discharged and 
when incapacitated by illness or injury. It also requires a master to 
record in the official logbook all matters for which deductions are to 
be made from seamen's wages.